Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Underwood Group, the Rotherham-based supplier of high quality fresh meat products to the catering industry, has further diversified its core business with the recent acquisition and investment in a dedicated factory unit producing high quality chilled and frozen sausage and burgers for the catering, food service, retail and wholesale markets.

Underwood Meat Company operates from two sites – in Rotherham, and Godalming in Surrey – and employs 150 people. From these premises, the company provides a wide variety of raw meat products to a range of blue-chip groups and independent catering customers throughout the UK.

The agreement with Country Park Foods has seen the Rawmarsh Road firm acquire the latter's Bramley Foods subsidiary in a deal that includes an 11,000 sq ft factory at Holmewood, Chesterfield.

A spokesperson for Underwood's said that the facility: "will provide a modern processing environment along with state of the art manufacturing equipment to enable the business to continue to support the growth in demand for quality sausages and burgers that we have experienced over the last two years, and importantly allow us to further develop these quality product ranges and extend our sales penetration into new markets."

The growing firm has also taken on Richard Mather as commercial manager who has overall responsibility for the Holmewood site.

Corporate and real estate lawyers at the Sheffield office of national law firm Irwin Mitchell advised Underwood Meat Company on the deal. Thomas Hall, a partner in Irwin Mitchell's Real Estate team, advised Underwood on the transfer of the Bramley Foods factory, while Matt Ainsworth, a partner in the law firm's Corporate team, advised on the acquisition aspects of the deal.

Thomas Hall, partner at Irwin Mitchell said: "This deal is major boost to Underwood Meat Company as it looks to expand and develop its operations in South Yorkshire.

"The acquisition of the company and property is a good news story for the region and highlights that even though times remain tough for many businesses, firms in good health are able to take advantage of growth opportunities. We're delighted to have been part of it."

Handlesbanken in Rotherham, led by Michael Harrison, supported Underwood Meat on the deal.